Target apparatus.



No. 820,569. PATENTED MAY 15, 1906.

G. M. HA-AS.

TARGET APPARATUS.

APPLIOATION FILED JULY 7,1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

W TNESSES: INVENTOR: A

Q4174 v61. $42M;

By his Attorney.

PATENTED MAY 15, 1906.

G. M. HAAS. TARGET APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED J ULY 7.1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVENTOR:

By hz 's Atzorney WITNESSES:

well as a hit.

' UNITED STATES PATIENT (OFFICE.

GEORGE M. HAAS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE AUTOMATIC TARGET MACHINE COMPANY. w

TARGET APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

rammed May 15, 1906.

Application filed July 7, 1905. Serial No. 268.694..

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE M. HAAs, a

citizen of the United States, residing in theexample, a gun or pistol-is employed, but

no explosive or projectile is used.

A target apparatus belonging to this general class is described and claimed in the United States Patent No. 679,325, granted. to The Automatic Target Machine Company July 30, 1901, and this atent may be referred to as fairly illustratlng the art to which the present invention belongs. It may be explained that in the said patent the target aimed at by the marksman is of the usual form, having a bulls-eye and rings or zones and wherein only the success is signalized, tlfiis being elfected by an indication visible to t e e e.

3 .Thiiobject of the present invention is to rovide a target a paratus otherwise simiar in principle to t at shown in the beforementioned atent, but furnished with means for signalizlng to the marksman a miss as The miss may be signalized byv sound, as with a phonogra h, or by sight orsemaphorieally, as herein s own.

:In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate an embodiment of the Invention,

" Figure 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic side elevation of the apparatus ona relatively small .scale. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the contact-disk, and Fig. 3 is a cross-section of same at line 00 in Fig. '2.

target and the electrical connections with the contact-plate, the former showing the normalcondition and the latter the conditlon when a miss contact has been made. Fig. 6

is a horizontal section through the sign above the target-stand.

. Referring primarily to F1g. 1, A deslgnates the simulated firearm, here represented as a Figs. 4 and'5 are somewhat diagrammatic face views of the pistol, mounted in a universal manner on a stand B in a known way. 0 designates the target-stand as a whole. D designates as a whole the contact plate or device in the stand B, and designates the drop-contact or selector, the movements of which are controlled .by the firearm in aiming and by the trigger thereof in firing. G designates a battery or other source of electricity, and W w designate the wires leadin from the stand B to the target-stand C, as w1ll be hereinafter more fully explained.

In the target-stand O (which may be in the nature of an upright frame with a glass front plate) are mounted targets of various kinds. (Seen best in Figs. 4 and 5.) 7 As here shown,

there are nine of these targets variously disposed and numbered 1, 2, 3, 4; 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. There may, however, be one or more of such targets, and it is not important to this invention of what kind they are, except that when the marksman aims correctly at one of them and pulls the trigger an electric circuit will be completed through that particular target, and the fact of his success will be signallzed to the marksman in some way elec trically-as by the ringing of a bell, the lighting of an incandescent lamp, or the like.

t may be explained that some of these targets are or may be mechanical and are operated each by an electromagnet energized by the completion of the circuit through said magnet when the trigger is pulled.

The metal contact-plate F of the device D has set in it at the proper points and insulated from the saidplate itself certain metal contact disks or pieces numbered 1 2, 3 4*, 5, 6 7 8, and 9", each of which is electrically connected by a wire w with the target or target element having the corres onding number at the target-stand, and all of the targets are connected through the returnwire W and the battery G with the selectingcontact E. This latter, by means fully de scribed in the before mentioned United States the target numbered 8, which is a be on a clock, as herein shown, and the aim has been correct, the selecting contact E will fall, when he ulls the t i ger, into contact with the meta disk 8*, an this will complete the circuit through the target 8 and ring the bell. If, under the circumstances named, the aim of the marksman is not good, the contact E will then fall on some part of the metal plate F, and this will have the effect to com lete a circuit through one or more incan escent lamps H, Fig. 6, disposed at the to of the target behind a translucent sign The wire w constitutes, with the return-Wire W,'

the circuit through the lamps H. The sign I will be or may be of letters in opa ue material or paint on a trans arent plate t, as glass,

disposed in front of t e lamp or lamps and behirid' a plate '5 of translucent glass. Such a sign under normal conditions will exhibit no inscription; but when the lamp or lamps H are lighted the sign will be illumlnated and the inscription will appear plainly, as in Fig. 5, and inform the marksman that his shot has missed. The inscription on the sign in Fig. 5

is You Missed It, but any suitable phrase may be employed to indicate a miss.

It will be understood that in the electric installation the several numbered targets willconnect with the return-wire W in the usual way. This common connection or cable is indicated diagrammatically in Figs. 4; and 5 by the wires 'w The pur ose of the invention is to signalize to the mar sman not alone his successes, but his failures also, and this is important in order to satisfy him that the apparatus is in order. Obviously this failure of the marksman may be signalized in various ways and by various means and the present invention is not limited to the means herein illustrate as such may be constructed in various ways without departing materially from the present invention. There will be an automatic circuit-breaker, so retarded as to break the circuit a convenient time after the trigger has been pulled. Such a mechanism is not new, and one device for the purpose is described in the before-mentioned patent, No. 679,325. This device, in the case of a miss, will leave the sign I announcing the miss illuminated for a few seconds.

In order to clearly distinguish the resent invention from that shown in the eforementioned patent, No. 679,325, itshould be noted that in said patent a sin le targetis shown, and whatever point on tllis target is aimed at there will be a visible indication of the result, showing location; but if the marksarticular indicatingjacent to the targetfor signalizin field. This results in a miss, which accord- The words "firearms and simulated I firearm are herein meant to include any device capable of being aimed, and by trigger is meant any device capable of setting the selecting-contact in o eration.

Having thus describe my invention, I claim 1. A target apparatus, having a universally-mounted simulated firearm, a targetfield, a group of objects on said field each of which forms a target capable of being aimed at with said firearm, and electrical means, made operative by actuating the trigger of the firearm, for indicating a hit when the firearm is aimed at any target on the field, and also electrical means for indicating by a special si nal a miss when the firearm is not aime at a target on the field.

2. A target apparatus, having a universally-mounted simulated firearm, an object to be aimed at therewith, and electrical means made operative by actuating the tri ger of the firearm, which signalizes the resu t when the marksman shall have aimed at said the marksman that he has missed the target.

4. A target apparatus, having a universally-mounted simulated firearm, a target to be aimed at, electrically-operated means adto the marksman hisfailure to aim correct y at the target, electricallyoperated means at the target to signalize to the marksman his success in aiming correctly thereat, circuit-010s ing devices adjacent to the firearm and made operative by pulling thetrigger of the firecircuit-closing devices with the signalizing devices at the tar et.

5. The combination with the simulated firearm and its stand, the target-stand, and targets mounted on said stand of a selectingcontact E, movable with the earm in aiming, a metal plate F below the selectin -contact, contact-disks set in said plate an insu- .arm, and clrcuits connecting the respective lated therefrom, conductors connecting the I said contact-disks with the respective tar- In Witness whereof I have hereunto signed gets, an electrically-operated devlce adjacent my name, this 6th day of July, 1905, in the to the targets for signalizing a miss, a conpresence of two subscribing Witnesses.

ductor connecting said device with the plate GEORGE M. HAAS. 5 F, a battery or generator, and a return-con- Witnesses:

ductor connecting the said miss-signalizing JAMES KING DUFFY,

device and the targets with the contact E. WILLIAM J. FIRTH. 

